Re: Difference between using /etc/network/interfaces and nm-applet config

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Mon, 2009-02-16 at 10:22 -0800, Bill Moseley wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 06:17:02PM +0100, Alexander Sack wrote:
> > 
> > /etc/network/interfaces is ment to be legacy support (or convenience)
> > on debian based system for those that like it. Its not yet feature
> > complete.
> > 
> > "Edit Connections ..." allows you to use the NetworkManager format for
> > saving/reading system-wide connection information (aka keyfile), which
> > obviosly is more feature complete in that it supports to read/save any
> > network manager connection configuration.
> 
> Hum, I set it up with "Edit Connections..." and I could log out and log
> in as another user and still had the static IP.  But after a reboot it
> went back to using dhcp for eth0.

If this is the initial "Auto eth0" connection, that's actually read-only
because it's a fake Ethernet connection to preserve the ability to just
plug in a cable and get a DHCP connection when there isn't anything
defined anywhere (like on a Live CD).  It just happens that in the
snapshot that Ubuntu 8.10 ships, it wasn't made read-only yet.

The ideal case is that the distro ships with a system-settings plugin
that can write connections back out, and when you modify that auto
connection, it actually *does* get saved somewhere.  But at the time of
that snapshot I'm not sure the keyfile plugin was usable enough.

> I'm leaving the Connect automatically and System setting checked and
> selecting Manual from the IPv4 Settings tab and adding my address,
> netmask, gateway and DNS.
> 
> Is there something I'm failing to do to have it survive a reboot?

Yes, make a new Ethernet connection, set it up, save it, and the "Auto"
connection will go away, and the one you just made will be used instead.

dan